The other side of the divorce papers

rself anymore, and everyone

working with students had dimmed, replaced with a distant, mechanical warmth that never reached her eyes. The guidance coun

long after it closed, sitting alone in her parked car. She found herself watching strangers, almost enviously, couples holding hands at the coffee

y noticed

e. Their interactions had dwindled to brief, clipped exchanges, logistics, e

e that life. Now, she no long

-

d, was unraveling a dif

attending book club, smiling politely at neighborhood gatherings,

ask for a divor

r had been traveling more, closing off, always tired, always somewhere else emotionally. But now, weeks aft

eous. Not with decisions this

r and Porter. Their digital life, in all its fragmented pieces. There was no smoking gun, no evidence of betr

till had the password, he never changed

il

logg

es. She scrolled through hundreds of subject lines until something cau

rt

art qu

ded design file

clic

t, but the timestamp aligned with the month Porter had started acting

ed at th

ted through p

issions? Had they been working together behind h

d the lap

ense yet. But they were

-

found unexpected

a had borrowed. Ryan had just returned from a brutal day at a client site. His sh

d. "There'

er night air was soft, tinged with the scent of wet gras

ll me why you're dismantling your marriage, or am I

"It's... c

ing is.

ong pause bef

But after the last miscarriage... she shut down. And I

ng but not pressing.

ldn't. I needed to forget, even if just for a while. And when I didn't engage, s

ving too," Emi

sees that. Not whe

tween them. Ryan turned his

stopped feeling like myself when I was with her. Like I was alw

swer. She just

ng the nickname he hadn't uttered in

something unreadable

k about Lena ag

shift had

-

ter work turned into late-night conversations. Laughter that once belonged to colle

t crossed

echni

ing stories. In the casual touches on the arm. In th

. Familiarity. Two people from the same b

moments in her head, she couldn't ig

that crept in

-

ed emotiona

dn't ask. She saw his car wasn't in the driveway some nights. Sh

cted. She hadn't confronted either of them yet. There

ey had was a mista

-

. It was one of Ryan's favorite places, where he'd taken her for annive

and E

ghi

nt close

d brush

. Not yet. But it w

s an

most was the begi

-

iendship and someth

d, was now the observer of someth

beginning form from t

face of the woman she o